1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rechargeable portable electronic equipment and a charger for charging the portable electronic equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A folding portable phone A which is one type of portable electronic equipment as shown in FIG. 8 and FIGS. 9A and 9B has a lid side housing C freely openably connected to a body side housing B via a hinge D, the body side housing B is provided with a key pad section E and the like on its front (top face), and the lid side housing C is provided with a display section F, an antenna G and the like. And it is operated by a rechargeable secondary battery (not shown) mounted in the body side housing B.
The body side housing B of the portable phone A is provided with an engagement hole Br at its back end (one end) Ba for engagement with an engagement latch of a charger to be described later, engagement recesses Bs for engagement with engagement projections of the charger to be described later formed at right and left corners of the front, and a pair of right and left charging terminal blocks H, H disposed on a bottom board Bb.
FIG. 10 shows a charger J used to charge the above-described portable phone A. A housing K of this charger J is formed to have a front cradle M and a rear cradle N on which the portable phone A is placed.
Engagement projections Q for engagement with the engagement recesses Bs of the portable phone A are formed on right and left side walls Ms, Ms of the front cradle M. And, a pair of right and left charging terminals R, R which are contacted with the charging terminal blocks H, H of the portable phone A are formed on the rear cradle N, and an engagement latch S for engagement with the engagement hole Br of the portable phone A is also disposed on the rear cradle N.
The engagement latch S is disposed to be freely movable in engagement and disengagement directions of the engagement hole Br of the portable phone A, specifically in such a way to appear and disappear with respect to the rear cradle N, and kept pushed by a spring T in a direction (to the left in the drawing) to protrude to the rear cradle N as shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12.
To fit the portable phone A on the charger J for recharging, the engagement recesses Bs of the portable phone A are first engaged with the engagement projections Q of the charger J as shown in FIG. 11.
Then, the rear (the right side in the drawing) of the portable phone A is pushed down as indicated by arrow V against the pushing force of the spring T to place on the rear cradle N by pushing away the engagement latch S. Thus, the engagement hole Br of the portable phone A is engaged with the engagement latch S as shown in FIG. 12.
By mutually engaging the engagement recesses Bs and the engagement projections Q and the engagement hole Br and the engagement latch S as described above, the portable phone A is held in position of the charger J, and the charging terminal blocks H, H of the portable phone A (see FIGS. 9A, 9B) are forced to be securely contacted with the charging terminals R, R of the charger J.
Meanwhile, to remove the portable phone A which is held as shown in FIG. 12 from the charger J, the rear (the night side in the drawing) of the portable phone A is first pulled up as indicated by arrow W while pushing away the engagement latch S against the pushing force of the sprint T to release the engagement of the engagement hole Br of the portable phone A with the engagement latch S as shown in FIG. 11.
Then, the portable phone A is pulled out from the charger J to disengage the engagement recesses Bs from the engagement projections Q. Thus, the portable phone A is removed from the charger J.
To remove the portable phone A which is held on the charger J in the above-described charging system of the portable electronic equipment which consists of a combination of the portable phone A and the charger J, it is necessary to pull up the rear part of the portable phone A as if it is peeled from the charger J to disengage the engagement latch S which is pushed by the spring T from the engagement hole Br.
Therefore, a relatively large space X (in which fingers can be inserted) is provided between the portable phone A and the charger J to allow the user to insert fingers to apply a force to the portable electronic equipment A as shown in FIG. 12. But, this space X causes a disadvantage that the system as a whole with the portable electronic equipment A placed in the charger J has an unexpectedly large size.
To remove the portable phone A from the charger J, it is necessary to insert fingers into the space X to pull up the portable phone A while pushing the charger J against the surface of a desk or the like on which the charger J is placed so that the charger J is not separated from the placed surface when the portable phone A is removed. Therefore, the removal of the portable phone A from the charger J is not necessarily satisfactory.
In view of the above-described circumstances, the present invention is to provide portable electronic equipment which enables to make a system as a whole with the portable electronic equipment placed in a charger as small as possible and also to easily remove the portable electronic equipment from the charger, and to provide a charger for the portable electronic equipment.